Thursday, December 23, 2010

Customer logic Part II

After my post yesterday on a major reason why customers will look at Office365, I received a very valid comment on the post about how if you multiply the amount out it ends up being more than the cost of Office if you simply purchased it over 1 – 2 years.

Yes, some customers will multiple that out but let me give you another example of where this ‘rational logic’ fails the customer test. Firstly, what about the way most people purchase mobile phones? They don’t buy them outright they buy them on a plan and end up generally paying many more times the value of purchasing the handset outright. Example two, many business people don’t purchase a car, they lease it. This is typically more expensive than buying it outright but they do it to receive other deductions.

I certainly agree there will be rational customers who will simply multiply the cost out but most I feel have become accustom to paying per month for many ‘business’ expenses. And here’s another reason customers will go with a subscription offering for Office. When a new version becomes available they are entitled to that version (provided their subscription is current). This is basically like volume licensing but now available to users of any size.

So add all the benefits of Office365 with the subscription to Office Professional Plus on the desktop and I still think it will ring most customers bells.